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Show 148 Nuwuvi: A Southern Paiute History Utah was as definitely divided on property lines among the Indians as it is today, and property rights were quite as much respected by the Indians as we now respect land titles. The only difference was with us the individual holds the land while with them the clan held all rights in common.2 Palmer also goes on to ask his people to imagine themselves in the place of the Nuwuvi: What would we do if a stronger people should come in upon us, look over our country, select the fertile valleys in which we have our headquarters, settle down there and tell us to move on? Suppose that people, in justification, told us that we had no right to the country because we were not making the best use of it, that we were obstructing progress. Suppose further that they explained that they were taking neither property nor rights from us for they were buying the ground from some unheard of being called "Government". . . . We took the land from the Indians-that much, I presume is admitted. ... If one made a map of the Indian tribal homelands one would find in most cases that their locations were almost identical with the places selected by the Mormon pioneers for settlement. . . . I have been amazed to see the extent to which our civilization has stepped in their very tracks. Almost without exception the Indian tribal headquarters marks the site of some present day Mormon town. We drove them from their homes and completely pauperized them but we have given them practically nothing in return. . . . The Government, too, on the specious excuse that they were "roving bands," even though they never left their tribal homelands, has steadfastly refused to extend the help necessary to give the dejected and miserable remnants of these once independent colonies a fighting chance for a tolerable existence. There is little to be proud of in all our Indian relations.3 It is clear that the Nuwuvi were no more nomadic than the average American today, going here and there to pick up goods, occasionally visiting relatives or friends in other states and sometimes changing residence. They had firmly established laws and knew the boundaries of their country. It is interesting that many of the whites, at least for a time, observed these laws. Jacob Hamblin, the so-called "Apostle to the Lamanites," led a company of emigrants through Nuwuvi territory: Over the strenuous protests of the company Hamblin turned all the animals over to the Indians to herd during the night and no |
